Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Patterson Pass Road Race Report (45+ 4s) August 8, 2010

Patterson Pass Road Race Report
45+ Cat 4 ~ August 8, 2010
By Scott Martin

After getting schooled at the Masters Districts RR a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to one of the 50+ hotshots. "You have to know how to suffer to do well here," he said.

So I thought what better way to practice my suffering than signing up for Patterson Pass, a hilly road race that climbs "O My God" Road (photo). So named because after ascending for about a decade you crest a steep section and see that the summit is still a long ways off and some witty person has painted "O My God" on the pavement.

As usual there is a strong headwind on the first of 2 trips up O My God, which keeps the speedsters in check. As usual the real action comes on the second, smaller climb where a tailwind makes drafting kind of worthless. I survive, barely, and we start the second lap. Again, no fireworks on O My God. So we come to the second, smaller climb and I am ready to practice my suffering.

I suffer like crazy but 10 guys are riding away from me on the last little bump. I am now like one of those domestiques who blows up on the big mountain passes. I practically come to a halt. I can hear some chasers behind me, so I ramp it up from 2 mph to 3 mph and latch on. Then we descend like crazy and actually catch the leaders who don't seem very organized.

Then some guy gets a blow-out in a corner and again we are chasing, which is something I have a lot of practice doing. We catch the leaders on the last hill and for some reason they don't attack. So we come into the sprint and I find myself behind a strong Cal Giant guy and I'm thinking, "This is a berry good wheel." So he goes fast and I go fast and he ends up second and I end up third.

Bob Montague does a great job to finish in a chase group on a course that maybe doesn't suit his strengths. But aftward he is vowing to get revenge on the "skinny liittle climber dudes" at next week's flatter Dunnigan Hills RR and I am glad I won't be there to suffer the Wrath of Bob.

3 comments:

Matthew Werner said...

Berry nicely done! Congrats Scott!

Dennis the Mennis said...

Yes, you've been riding strong Scott! Glad to see you get some awesome results that reflect your talent!

Mike Bodge said...

Congrats Scott, great report!
Mike